Individuals remain the largest trading group on Boursa Kuwait

Boursa Kuwait gained 2.6% in April

KUWAIT: Kuwait Clearing Company issued its report on the “Trading Volume according to Nationality and Category” for the period 01/01/2022 to 30/04/2022, published on the official website of Boursa Kuwait. The report indicated that individuals are still the largest trading group. Their contribution to sold shares has increased to account for 44.3 percent of total value of sold shares, compared with 44.17 percent for the same period in 2021.

However, their contribution to purchased shares has decreased to 42.7 percent of total value of purchased shares, compared to 44.15 percent for the same period in 2021). Individual traders sold shares worth KD 2.495 billion and bought shares worth KD 2.406 billion, resulting in a net sale of KD 88.404 million. The second largest contributor to market liquidity is the institutions and corporate sector, with an increased share of purchasing yet a decreased share in terms of selling. It accounted for 29.4 percent of total purchased shares (26.1 percent for the same period 2021) and 25.2 percent of total sold shares (26.8 percent for the same period 2021).

This sector bought shares worth KD 1.658 billion and sold shares worth KD 1.418 billion, making its net trading the only-purchasing sector of KD 240.058 million. The third contributor is the customer accounts sector (portfolios) with increased sales yet decreased purchased shares. It accounted for 25.8 percent of the total value of sold shares (24.9 percent for the same period 2021) and 24.1 percent of the total value of purchased shares (25.3 percent for the same period 2021). This sector sold shares worth KD 1.454 billion while buying shares worth KD 1.355 billion, resulting in the highest net sale position of KD 98.484 million. The last contributor to market liquidity is the investment funds sector. its sales increased and purchases decreased, as it accounted for 4.7 percent of the total value of sold shares (4.2 percent for the same period 2021) and 3.7 percent of the total value of purchased shares (4.4 percent for the same period 2021).

This sector sold shares worth KD 263.786 million and bought shares worth KD 210.615 million, bringing its net selling position to KD 53.171 million. One of the characteristics of Boursa Kuwait is that it continues to be a local stock exchange. Kuwaiti investors were the largest participants as they sold shares worth KD 4.952 billion, representing 88 percent of the total value of sold shares (83.3 percent for the same period 2021) and buying shares worth KD 4.641 billion, acquiring 82.4 percent of total value of the purchased shares (84 percent for the same period 2021). Therefore, their net position was the most-selling sector with KD 311.162 million sold shares. 4 The share of GCC investors out of total value of sold shares reached 3.6 percent (3.4 percent for the same period 2021), i.e. KD 200.068 million, while their share of purchased shares amounted to 3.1 percent (2.4 percent for the same period 2021), i.e. KD 172.873 million, resulting in a net sale of KD 27.194 million.

The share of other investors out of total value of purchased shares was at 14.5 percent (13.6 percent for the same period 2021) in the amount of KD 816.077 million, while the value of their sold shares amounted to KD 477.719 million or 8.5 percent of the total value of sold shares (13.3 percent for the same period 2021), thus becoming the only investors with a net purchase of KD 338.357 million. The relative distribution between nationalities has changed from the previous reporting period, as it became 85.2 percent for Kuwaitis, 11.5 percent for traders of other nationalities and 3.3 percent for GCC traders, compared to 83.7 percent for Kuwaitis, 13.4 percent for traders of other nationalities and 2.9 percent for GCC traders for the same period in 2021.

In other words, Boursa Kuwait remained a local stock exchange with local investors being the most active participants, and other investors from outside the GCC still exceeding those from within the GCC countries, and the majority of the trading remaining for individuals. Number of active trading accounts increased by 2.3 percent between the end of December 2021 and the end of April 2022, compared to a decrease of -10.4 percent between the end of December 2020 and the end of April 2021. The number of active trading accounts at the end of April 2022 reached 20,764 accounts or 5 percent of the total accounts, compared to 20,963 accounts at the end of March 2022 or 5.1 percent of total accounts, a decrease of -1 percent during April 2022.

Selected financial markets

The performance of the month of April was negative for the majority of the selected markets, during which 8 markets recorded losses and 6 markets achieved gains compared to their performance during March. By the end of April, the first third of the current year ended with a positive outcome, as 8 markets achieved gains compared to the levels of their indices at the end of last year, with GCC stock exchanges occupying the first six positions, while six markets recorded losses. The biggest gainer in April was the Dubai market with gains of 5.5 percent, bringing its total gains since the beginning of the year to 16.4 percent. The second largest gainer during April was the Saudi market whose gains amounted to 4.9 percent, thus becoming the largest gainer since the beginning of the year by 21.7 percent, followed by Boursa Kuwait with 2.6 percent gains. Total gains since the beginning of the year reached to 18.7 percent, i.e. the third largest gainer. Abu Dhabi market came next with 1.3 percent gains during April, ranking second since the beginning of the year with gains of 18.8 percent,. Next are the Qatari and British market with 0.4 percent gains for both during April.

The biggest loser in April was the Chinese market whose index lost by -6.3 percent, remaining at the bottom of the negative zone with -16.3 percent losses since the beginning of the year by The second largest loser during the month of April was the American market declining by 4.9 percent, and becoming the third largest loser since the beginning of the year by -9.2 percent. the Japanese market followed by -3.5 percent losses, then the Indian, German and French markets by -2.6 percent, - 2.2 percent and -1.9 percent respectively.

It does not seem that the risks that caused the losses of the eight markets in April will recede in May. With the geopolitical risks remaining the main driver of performance and still very difficult to predict, they remain valid drivers of the performance of the upcoming months. Moreover, the performance of the mentioned economies has direct and indirect impacts on the performance of the global markets. The consequences of the Ukrainian war are significant: as much of a great it has had on the performance of the Russian economy; it has equally affected all the other economies. It has caused pronounced inflationary pressures, rising interest rate and cost of debt in addition to repercussions on asset prices. Therefore, the most probable outcome for the month of May is a negative performance for the major and emerging stock markets with a mixed performance for the Gulf stock markets.

Boursa Kuwait weekly performance

The performance of Boursa Kuwait for last week was mixed, where the traded value, traded volume and number of transactions increased, while the general index (AlShall Index) decreased. AlShall Index (value weighted) closed at 707.1 points as of last Thursday, showing a decline by 49.5 points or by 6.5 percent compared with its level last week. While it remained higher by 84.3 points or by 13.5 percent compared with the end of 2021.